My son had been practicing the Mozart piano concerto for three months. He’d put hundreds of hours into it. But when it came time for the competition, he made just a few mistakes. But they […]
Tag: failure
The in-between
Between the cross and the empty tomb Are the hours Of a strange Sabbath, A brutal pause, A death-filled rest, A peace-less peace. This is where we live our lives: One long Holy Saturday, Where […]
When success becomes failure
When I became a pastor, the congregation I started serving had been on a slow but steady decline for more than 40 years. There had been no mass exodus along the way, but church records […]
Back to zero
There were Alcoholics Anonymous meetings every day of the week at the church I used to pastor. On three days, there were two meetings, for a total of ten per week. They pretty much owned our […]
A glorious experiment in failure
“All we are saying is give Pete a chance.” The crowd was into it, singing along with the band a cheesy version of John and Yoko’s “All we are saying is give peace a chance.” […]
Advent & the silence of Zechariah
One of the most-omitted Christmas stories is that of Zechariah and the angel in the temple (Luke 1:5-25). We all want to jump right to the birth of Jesus and focus on either Matthew 2 […]
The difference just a few seconds makes
Most of life is determined by just a few seconds here and there. Just a few seconds is usually the difference between success and failure, cleanliness and messiness, love and alienation. Turning the light off […]
We're all winners! [OK. That's not true. But we can learn to lose well.]
“If you can dream it, you can achieve it.” The words were emblazoned on my kids’ elementary school walls. So. Not. True. There are things I can dream of that I simply can’t do. They’re […]
Slow your breath down
Sometimes, it’s the speed of daily life. Sometimes, it’s words heard that keep bouncing off the walls of our hearts. Sometimes, it’s as series of worries that are out of our control. Sometimes, it’s a […]